eprintid: 10072018 rev_number: 45 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/07/20/18 datestamp: 2019-04-10 16:10:32 lastmod: 2021-12-03 23:09:37 status_changed: 2019-07-29 10:33:28 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Smith, C creators_name: Conolly, A creators_name: Fuller, C creators_name: Hill, S creators_name: Lorencatto, F creators_name: Marcheselli, F creators_name: Michie, S creators_name: Mindell, J creators_name: Ridd, M creators_name: Shallcross, L creators_name: Tsakos, G creators_name: Hayward, A creators_name: Fragaszy, E title: Symptom reporting, healthcare-seeking behaviour and antibiotic use for common infections: protocol for Bug Watch, a prospective community cohort study ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C07 divisions: D05 divisions: F66 divisions: D12 divisions: G19 divisions: DD4 note: © Author(s) (or their employer[s]) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). abstract: INTRODUCTION: Antimicrobial resistance is a significant worldwide problem largely driven by selective pressure exerted through antibiotic use. Preserving antibiotics requires identification of opportunities to safely reduce prescriptions, for example in the management of mild common infections in the community. However, more information is needed on how infections are usually managed and what proportion lead to consultation and antibiotic use. The aim of this study is to quantify consultation and prescribing patterns in the community for a range of common acute infection syndromes (respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin/soft tissue, mouth/dental, eye and urinary tract). This will inform development of interventions to improve antibiotic stewardship as part of a larger programme of work, Preserving Antibiotics through Safe Stewardship. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This will be an online prospective community cohort study in England. We will invite 19 510 adults who previously took part in a nationally representative survey (the Health Survey for England) and consented to be contacted about future studies. Adults will also be asked to register their children. Data collection will consist of a baseline registration survey followed by weekly surveys sent by email for 6 months. Weekly surveys will collect information on symptoms of common infections, healthcare-seeking behaviour and use of treatments including antibiotics. We will calculate the proportions of infection syndromes that lead to General Practitioner consultation and antibiotic prescription. We will investigate how healthcare-seeking and treatment behaviours vary by demographics, social deprivation, infection profiles and knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotics, and will apply behavioural theory to investigate barriers and enablers to these behaviours. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been given ethical approval by the University College London Research Ethics Committee (ID 11813/001). Each participant will provide informed consent upon registration. We will disseminate our work through publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. Anonymised data will be made available through the UK Data Service (https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/). date: 2019-05 date_type: published publisher: BMJ Journals official_url: http://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028676 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green article_type_text: Journal Article verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1645550 doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028676 language_elements: English lyricists_name: Fragaszy, Ellen lyricists_name: Fuller, Christopher lyricists_name: Hayward, Andrew lyricists_name: Lorencatto, Fabiana lyricists_name: Michie, Susan lyricists_name: Mindell, Jennifer lyricists_name: Shallcross, Laura lyricists_name: Smith, Catherine lyricists_name: Tsakos, Georgios lyricists_id: EFRAG24 lyricists_id: CFULL14 lyricists_id: ACHAY31 lyricists_id: FRLOR99 lyricists_id: SFMIC21 lyricists_id: JMIND63 lyricists_id: LSHAL65 lyricists_id: CSMIT61 lyricists_id: GHTSA97 actors_name: Waragoda Vitharana, Nimal actors_id: NWARR44 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: BMJ Open volume: 9 number: 5 article_number: e028676 issn: 2044-6055 citation: Smith, C; Conolly, A; Fuller, C; Hill, S; Lorencatto, F; Marcheselli, F; Michie, S; ... Fragaszy, E; + view all <#> Smith, C; Conolly, A; Fuller, C; Hill, S; Lorencatto, F; Marcheselli, F; Michie, S; Mindell, J; Ridd, M; Shallcross, L; Tsakos, G; Hayward, A; Fragaszy, E; - view fewer <#> (2019) Symptom reporting, healthcare-seeking behaviour and antibiotic use for common infections: protocol for Bug Watch, a prospective community cohort study. BMJ Open , 9 (5) , Article e028676. 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028676 <https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028676>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072018/7/Fragaszy_Symptom%20reporting%2C%20healthcare-seeking%20behaviour%20and%20antibiotic%20use%20for%20common%20infections.%20Protocol%20for%20Bug%20Watch_VoR.pdf